Automatic car-coupling



(N8 Model.) I

I E. LATHAM.

AUTOMATIC CAR COUPLING.

P tented Feb. 14, 18.88. 1

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UNITED STATES PATENT LOFFICEA EEHRAIM LATHAM, on wnsnmcron, premier on COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR or TWO-THIRDS ro THOMAS J. POWELL, or NEW YORK, N. Y., ETHAN .A. SAWYERS, OF BROWNSVILLE, OREGON, AND LOUIS WV.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

AUTOMATIC CAR-COUPLING,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,068,dated February 14, 1888.

Application filed December 1887. Serial No.257,256. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EPHRAIM LATHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the Districtof Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticOar-Couplings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a'full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it ap IO pertains to make and use the same.

Thisinvention relates to automatic car-couplings; and it has for its object to provide means whereby the common links, the common pins, and the common draw-heads of cars already in r 5 service may, without any alteration in them, be adapted to couple themselves automatically when two cars equipped with my invention come together.

To this end .my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming a carcoupling hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure I represents a car-coupling and some adjacent portions of two carsin side elevation,

showing my invention. Fig. Ilisalongitudinal vertical View of a single draw-head and its appurtenances on alarger scale. Fig. IILis a plan view of the same, and Fig. IV is a perspective View of the push-plug. v

2 represents a railway-car of any kind; but I have reference more particularly to freightcars.

3 is a draw-head, 4 a link, and 5 a pin, all of I the step in the push-plug being pushed under.

3 5 which are of usual form and construction.

' 6 is a push-plug of peculiar construction fitted to slide longitudinally in ,the throat of the draw-head. It has a recess, 7, in its forward end, at the upper side, to serve as a step for .0 the pin to stand in, and the pin so standing prevents the plugcoming out of the draw-head. The forward end of the plug is also notched and slanted forward, the notch being deepest and broadest at its lower side, in order that when the rounded end of a link is thrust in at the mouth of the draw-head it will strike the sides of the notch andbe guided centrallyhorizontally, and by the slant of the plug it will be PERKINS, or

guided to the bottom of the mouth on which it may rest. 1 p

7 is a spring fitted to act between a block, 8, which I fix in the bottom of the throat in the draw head or bar, and the rear end of the pushplug 6, to push the latter constantly forward or outward. This spring is made fast to both The block Smay be the block and the plug. wood, which is readily sawed to the right length to fill the throat far enough to give the required amount of compression to the spring. The rear end of the plug 6- is bored or chambered to receive the spring far enough to hold the latter centrally in the throat and away from the sides, and for the same purpose the rear end of the spring may be fixed to the block 8. This is .to prevent the spring from becoming crystallized by pounding its middle against the sides of the throat while being jolted in service.

9 is a ring having its opening of a size -cor-.

may be reached by a person standing on the ground to lift the pin.

16 is a bracket or arm fixed upon the buffer 12, to project forward over the pin-hole at the exact height required to stop the pin from being raised any higher than enough to permit it. I particularly choose the buffer as asupport for this bracket or pin stop because the buffer is wood, which may be readily penetrated for.

bolts or screws by the hand-tools of aworkman in the yardwithout'the aid of such machinery as would be required to bore or cut iron.

17 is a rod extending from the horizontal arm 13 of the bell-crank lever'to the top of the car, whereby the brakeman on top of the car may raise the coupling-pin.

18 is a shoulder or'rest fixed beneath the horizontal path of the arm 13 and beside its vertical path, upon which stop the said arm may be supported to hold the pin raised, so that the link will bereleased when. the car starts, or'the pin will be prevented from dropping and entering a link, if so desred, in the absence of the brakeman. The lever is to be slid endwise in its hearings to engage or disengage the rest 18.

In operation the pin is first raised to stand upon the step in the pushplug. Then a link being thrust into the mouth of the draw-head is guided by the notch in the push-plug to the center and to the lower side or floor of the mouth, and the plug being pushed in releases the pin to fall through the link and hold it. Now the link may be raised or lowered at its free end to the point required to enter the coming draw-head, and the push-plug will hold it rigidly against the pin in that position. On the arrival of the coming draw-head the free end of the link enters its mouth and is caught by the pin, as before described.

It will be seen that all the attachments which I make to the car are upon the wood work and by common screws, no alteration in the shape of a car or any of its parts being required by my invention to change any common car into an automatic coupler, in which the coupling is performed without danger to the operator. It will be seen, also, that the parts added to accomplish this end are 'very'simple, and the whole operation of thus fitting a car with my automatic coupling mechanism is inexpensive and applicable to nearly all the existing forms of car-couplings. In the absence of a buffer, my pin-stop would be secured as a bracket extending from the end of the car to the upper end of the pins path.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is the following:

1. The combination of the bell-crank lever 10, the ring 9, adapted. to. receive-the-body of a couplingpin, and the connections 14, as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a device for lifting a coupling-pin, of a ring, 9, connected therewith and having an aperture of a size adapted to receive the body of the coupling-pin, substantial] y as shown and described,whereby any coupling-pin may be supported and yet be free for removal.

3. The combination of athroated draw-head, a push-plug fitted to slide therein and recessed at its upper side and forward end, forming a pin-step with a shoulder to take against the rear side of the pin, a spring behind the pushplug, a block of wood or similar easily-worked material fitted into the bottom of the throat, a coupling-pin, and an arm or bracket fixed to the wood-work of the car above the pin and in position to hold the pin in the step in the push plug, substantially as shown and described, whereby the length of push plug, spring, and block united may be readily fitted to the depth of the throat, and whereby they will be retained in place when pushed in at the mouth of the draw-head.

4. The combination, with a throated draw head or bar, of the recessed and chambered push-plug described fitted loosely therein, a spring fixed into the plug free of the throat, and a block forming a base for the spring in the throat, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EPHBAIM LA'IHAM.

Witnesses:

E. A. SAWYERS, W. X. STEVENS. 

